Too Little Too Late
by Firerose1300
Summary: Oshitari and his playboy ways are a bit too late for Gakuto but his mushroom is just in time. HiyoshiGakutoOshitari Mentioned AtobeRyoma JirouTaki


Too Little Too Late

"Yuushi, want to go out for Ramen?" Gakuto crossed his fingers, he called Oshitari, hoping his partner would go out with him. Gakuto really wanted to confess but he needed the right atmosphere. If Gakuto got his way they would go to the new ramen stand and end up in the park afterwards, that was Gakuto's ideal place to tell Yuushi his real feelings.

"Sorry Gakuto, I have a lot of work and other things to do. Maybe another time." Gakuto's spirits fell faster than his moon salute. He tried to keep his voice calm and pleasant.

"Oh, ok. Don't worry about it I'll just call Jirou and Taki or Hiyoshi." Gakuto hung up before Oshitari had the chance to say anything else. Frowning Gakuto fell face down on his bed. "Stupid Yuushi, he's supposed to understand these things, he reads all those stupid romance books. Doesn't he read all those cheesy romance novels all the time?" Only silence answered. Gakuto sighed heavily.

After laying face down for about half an hour, he sat up. Now he was bored and depressed, he considered actually calling Taki and Jirou or Hiyoshi but didn't want to bother them. Not paying attention he almost fell out of his bed when a rock hit his window. At first it seemed accidental but when it was followed by several others seconds later, he scrambled to get to the window. He threw it open. There stood Hiyoshi, poised to throw another stone but upon seeing Gakuto let it fall out of his hand and moved into a regular stance craning his neck to look at his sempai.

"You're slow Mukahi-sempai." Gakuto twitched, he'd have to teach Hiyoshi a lesson on respecting your sempai later, right now he just wanted to know what the younger boy wanted. He was glad it was Hiyoshi there, it would have been nice to see Oshitari but he was a little mad at his doubles partner.

"Who are you calling slow you stupid mushroom." Hiyoshi's dark chuckle even reached Gakuto's ears and his mouth twisted in displeasure. "Whatever, what do you want Hiyoshi?"

"Want to get some ramen Mukahi-sempai?" Gakuto was stunned, Hiyoshi either had marvelous or shitty timing. Gakuto would figure out which later.

"Fine, I'll be down in a second." Gakuto took his uniform off slipping on the clothes he had taken so long to pick out to go out with Oshitari. The outfit consisted of tight, black skinny jeans, a form-fitting white t-shirt, a red zip-up hoodie, and red chucks. Grabbing his wallet and keys, Gakuto bounded down the stairs and out the door, locking it behind him. "C'mon loser, let's go." Hiyoshi raised an eyebrow but immediately fell in step with his sempai.

"So, what prompted a trip to my house to ask me out to ramen, what were you going to do if I said no?" Hiyoshi shrugged and slid his hands into his pockets. "You're strange you know that mushroom head." Gakuto looked over at Hiyoshi and couldn't help staring, the younger boy looked good, and if Gakuto wasn't mistaken, he was wearing cologne. His outfit seemed to be something that was very Hiyoshi but at the same time seemed a little modern and Gakuto was sure he had seen Jirou wearing those same olive baggy pants at another time. The black t-shirt showed off Hiyoshi's abs that usually couldn't be seen beneath the Hyotei tennis jersey or the uniform shirt. The white button up seemed more of what Hiyoshi would wear, even though it was unbuttoned and fluttered as he walked. Gakuto was confused about why Hiyoshi had dressed so nice and was wearing cologne.

Neither of them said anything during the walk which Gakuto was grateful for, it gave him a chance to think and gawk at Hiyoshi at the same time. It wasn't all that bad spending time with Hiyoshi, he was not nearly as good looking as Atobe or Oshitari but he was easy on the eyes and the cologne he was wearing smelled nice. It seemed slightly familiar. Maybe, that was just a Hiyoshi scent though, Gakuto had never bother to really smell the other boy before though. Everything was going rather nicely until they had to stop at a crossroads waiting for the pedestrian light.

"Ah, there's Atobe-buchou." Gakuto laughed and looked in the direction Hiyoshi was facing. "Whose that in the car with him, I can't tell." Gakuto's laughter quickly became a sound of pain. It was Oshitari. Atobe and Oshitari were driving Atobe's convertible. They were laughing. Atobe leaned over and kissed Oshitari on the lips. That was all Gakuto had to see, he ran. He didn't stop until a strong hand grabbed his wrist. He attempted to throw them off but they had a good hold. Gakuto was pulled into a warm strong chest. Through his tear filled eyes he made out Hiyoshi's worried face. Unaware he clung to his kohai and in return he felt those strong arms hold him tight while he cried.

After he stopped crying, Gakuto let go of Hiyoshi, expecting his junior to do the same. Hiyoshi only held tighter.

"Hiyoshi, you can let go. I'm alright now." Hiyoshi didn't say anything just let his head fall into the crook of Gakuto's neck, hot breath bathing the sensitive area. The intimate gesture shocked but was strangely comforting to Gakuto. "Hiyoshi, I mean it, let go." Gakuto pushed at his chest but Hiyoshi didn't move.

"No. You're not alright. I didn't want to do this now, not here, not yet but... I feel I must. Please consider me an appropriate alternative to Oshitari-sempai." Gakuto's heart stopped. He couldn't figure out what Hiyoshi was saying.

"Hi-hiyoshi, what, what do you mean. I'm confused." Hiyoshi laughed and leaned back to look at Gakuto's face.

"I like you Mukahi-sempai. Please consider having me as your boyfriend instead of pursuing Oshitari-sempai." Gakuto's heart went spinning. He was so confused, he felt completely vulnerable and helpless. "You don't have to give me an answer now but, I'd at least like you to consider my offer." Gakuto's mouth went dry, he couldn't find the words to say to such a shocking confession. How long had Hiyoshi been keeping his feelings a secret? "Now, ramen. You must be hungry sempai." Gakuto let himself be dragged away.

The rest of the night he was silent, not being able to find the words or even the voice to say anything. Hiyoshi was kind though he ordered and paid and then walked Gakuto home. After letting himself into his house, Gakuto collapsed against the door, he still couldn't believe what had happened.

* * *

The next morning when he woke up, not only was he groggy from not sleeping well, he was frightened by the nightmares he had. Gakuto was pleased to see it was raining though. That mean no practice which meant he didn't have to see Atobe, Oshitari, or Hiyoshi. He had mixed feelings about not seeing Hiyoshi while on one hand he was glad because he was sure he wouldn't be articulate enough to even complete a sentence he also hadn't quite figured out what kind of answer he was going to give his mushroom.

"Gaku-chan." Gakuto had been so lost in though on his walk to school, he hadn't noticed Jirou and Taki calling after him. He stopped to let them catch up. They were sharing an umbrella and both holding it between them. Taki had a smile that seemed very cat that ate the canary and Jirou was more awake than usual. "You're really out of it today aren't you Gaku-chan. Is it the rain, or something else perhaps?" Gakuto went absolutely red in the face Taki bumped Gakuto with his hip. "Tell us all about it Gaku-chan." Gakuto though they were acting suspicious but, he hoped he was just imagining it.

"Well, I invited Yuushi to eat ramen with me hoping it would be like a date and that I could confess to him in the park. But, he said he had a lot of work and stuff so he said no. Then Hiyoshi came over and offered to go eat ramen with me so I said yes and then when we were waking I saw Yuushi kissing Atobe even though Atobe knows I really like Yuushi. Then I ran away and Hiyoshi chased me and let me cry on 'mconfusedanddon'tknowwhattodo." Jirou and Taki blinked hard.

"Ummm.... Gaku-chan can you repeat that last part at a speed that humans can understand." Gakuto blushed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I said, Then I ran away and Hiyoshi chased me. He let me cry on him. Then he confessed he

loves me. Now I'm confused and don't know what to do." Jirou nodded thoughtfully while Taki tried to hide a mischievous smile behind the hand that wasn't holing the umbrella, but Gakuto could see it written all over his eyes. "What's with that smile Taki, are you hiding something from me?"

"Nope, I just think it's cute Gaku-chan. I mean it's all romantic." Gakuto let it go, he figured it was just Taki being Taki. Like Oshitari he loved all that romantic crap, which was a good thing Jirou was his boyfriend. Jirou was alright with all that girly chick flick crap.

"Did you give Hiyoshi an answer?" Gakuto looked up at Jirou who had been silent up until now.

"Well no, but I was just nervous and I don't know what to think. I mean I think I love Yuushi but when Hiyoshi confessed I got all nervous and butterflies and sweaty palms and everything. I felt an immense attraction to him. Even now, thinking about it makes me jittery and hot." Jirou gave a soft smile. Taki pulled his cell phone out and began typing furiously, Gakuto wondered what was so urgent.

"Sounds like you've got a little crush to me." Gakuto's face turned red for the millionth time this morning. "Give Hiyoshi a chance. See how you feel then, make your decision after that." Gakuto thought for a second and then began beaming. "I'll take that as a yes. Look, it's your lucky day too, there's Hiyoshi. Gakuto found this to be true when he looked up he was Hiyoshi with his umbrella just about to enter the gates. Turning to Taki and Jirou he flashed and peace sign.

"Thanks for all the advice. I'll see you guys in class." As Gakuto ran off Taki smiled and squeezed Jirou's hand.

"We're good, don't you think so Ji." Jirou smiled, reaching his hand over he turned Taki's face and gave him one small kiss.

"Yeah, we're good Hagi." They both watched as Gakuto caught up with Hiyoshi.

* * *

"Oi, mushroom head, wait up." Hiyoshi turned his head at the sound of his beloved sempai's voice. "You walk fast you know that Hiyoshi." Hiyoshi smiled and took a long hard look at Gakuto. "You know how you said you liked me last night. Well, I've thought about it and..." Hiyoshi brightened up, he was hoping for a favorable response. "I decided, I want to try being you're boyfriend." Hiyoshi was beaming now. "And seeing as I made that choice I want you to start calling me Gakuto, not sempai, not Mukahi-sempai, just Gakuto."

"I'd like that, Gakuto. Since I'm going to call me that, you may call me Wakashi, or mushroom. Both are fine." Gakuto smiled and slid his free hand into Hiyoshi's causing the younger boy to blush.

"Yeah, I can do that Wakashi. Do you want to go somewhere this afternoon, since I doubt we'll have practice cause of the rain. We can go to my house and play video games or something." Hiyoshi smiled, he figured he'd be doing that a lot now.

"Whatever you want Gakuto." Little did the happy couple know that other eyes, not belong to Jirou and Taki were watching, eyes that carried envy and a hint of malice.

* * *

Gakuto smiled to himself, he had been doing that a lot in the past month after accepting Hiyoshi as his boyfriend. His life couldn't have been better. Hiyoshi was so good to him, they went out almost every afternoon after tennis practice, going to play together at the street courts, to Gakuto's house to play video games, to the movies, to Hiyoshi's house to drink tea, for walks in the park, and whatever other things they could randomly find. Everyday Gakuto found more reason to smile. He had found he hadn't really loved Oshitari in the first place.

A couple weeks ago he had gone up to Atobe and wish him good luck with Oshitari. Atobe rolled his eyes and pursed his lips, then proceeded to explain his reaction. "He's so flighty, ore-sama tried dating him but he wanted you when he found he couldn't tear you away from Hiyoshi, he tired to woo Rikkai's gentleman Yagyuu Hiroshi but their trickster Niou Masaharu broke Oshitari's nose. I think he tried to date a couple girls too but he ended up being dumped because his eyes, and hands tend to have a mind of their own when anything more appeasing walks by." Atobe then began to talk in length to Gakuto about having safe sex, and Atobe's new relationship with Seigaku's seventh grader.

Jirou and Taki eventually confessed their involvement in getting Hiyoshi to confess. Taki and Jirou had dressed him and sent him to Gakuto's house that night. The reason the cologne smelled so familiar was because it was Jirou's that Taki had bought. Also, Taki confessed to setting up having Hiyoshi be at the gate the morning after he confessed. Gakuto couldn't find the heart to be mad at them though.

"Gakuto, earth to Gakuto. Are you in there?" Gakuto came out of his thinking trance he looked right at his boyfriend and stuck his tongue out. "Don't be like that Gaku, you were staring off into space and smiling like a fool. What was on your mind?" Gakuto smiled and slipped his arm through Hiyoshi's.

"You." Hiyoshi couldn't help but lean down and kiss Gakuto.

"You're a romantic you know that."

"Yeah, I know. You have marvelous timing you know?"

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing."

"You're weird Gaku, that's probably why I love you so much though."

"I love you too Waka."

* * *

**A/N:** Wow, that's really long. I love it though. I mean I really like it. I hope everyone else does too. As always please review. Everyone who review's get's a free e-cookie.


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